Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Director: Tony Randel
Writer: Peter Atkins
Based on (somewhat): Clive Barker‘s novella The Hellbound Heart
Sequel to: Hellraiser
Cast: Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham, Imogen Boorman, Sean Chapman, William Hope, Doug Bradley
Seen on: 14./15./16.10.2025

Plot:
After everything that happened, Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) was brought to Doctor Channard’s (Kenneth Cranham) psychiatric facility. His assistant Kyle (William Hope) is trying to connect with her, but all Kirsty can think about is to keep the Cenobites away. She knows that the mattress where Julia (Clare Higgins) died needs to be destroyed and begs Channard and Kyle to do it. What she doesn’t know is that Channard not only actually believes her, but has been trying to get to the Cenobites himself – and he thinks that he finally has the chance to do so.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II is visually stronger than the first Hellraiser film, but everything else doesn’t work quite as well, I thought. Still, it is intriguing.

In the first Hellraiser movie, the Cenobites come to our dimension. In this one, we travel to their hell, and I really loved the Escher-esque look of it, and the surreal way it functions. The images the film conjures up there are fascinating to look at – and even when they repeat visuals or set pieces, they never get boring. I cannot say that I really understood the rules by which this world functions, though – it is more a “vibes” kind of hell.

I also liked that the movie knows quite clearly who the real villain is, and it is not the Cenobites. Terrifying as they may be, they retain a shred of humanity – contrary to Channard who sacrifices everything and everyone to his goals. His monstrous transformation then seems to show who he was on the inside all along.

What the movie seems to miss entirely is how absolutely creepy Kyle is, though. Much older than Kirsty and her caretaker, there is a flirty rapport he has with her that crosses every boundary into fucked-up there is – and the film seems to think that he is just a great guy. It was weird and it bothered me all the way through the film.

There is not much of a plot to speak of, rather a series of gruesome, often impressive images but that didn’t really bother me. I was able to run along with Kirsty and Tiffany (Imogen Boorman). That being said, even if I didn’t mind the lack of a plot per se, it was a bit of a let-down after the carefully crafted story of the first film. Still, I am interested enough to continue with ther series, that’s for sure.

Summarizing: worth it for the visuals.